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By 'non-English speaker' do you mean 'someone with English as a second language', 'someone not speaking English', or 'someone not from England'? I'm a non-nati
by interfixus 7y ago
By 'non-English speaker' do you mean 'someone with English as a second language', 'someone not speaking English', or 'someone not from England'?
I'm a non-native English speaker, and certainly has no problem distinguishing between your examples; in fact I use such words as illustration when explaining subtleties of Danish pronunciation to anglophones.
And I absolutely cringe whenever '2' is used for 'to', og '4' for 'for'. Just stop it, they sound nothing alike.
- Broken_Hippo 7y agoAnd I absolutely cringe whenever '2' is used for 'to', og '4' for 'for'. Just stop it, they sound nothing alike. I'm a native english speaker, and I pronounce those the same. Two = to = too, but "tool" sometimes nearly has 2 "o" sounds, depending. For = four, and the sound in "four" is not the same as in "foul", which is two sounds.
- 2038AD 7y agoWhen I was a kid I found it confusing people would confuse there, their and they're – or rather being taught that people confuse them. I'm not sure whether it was due to me being more literate than verbal or not but "they're" at least has always been distinct to me. Maybe it's due to accent changes. I used to pronounce bull and ball the same.
- interfixus 7y agoBewilders me too. Each has a distinct intonation. Also, the rules aren't really that hard to master.
- bmn__ 7y agoI learnt that all are pronounced the same: /ðɛː/ What's the concrete difference? Global rising or falling? Upsteps/downsteps? Pitch contours?
- plannedplans 7y ago> And I absolutely cringe whenever '2' is used for 'to', og '4' for 'for'. Just stop it, they sound nothing alike. r/iamverysmart